The space separating the couple
Was no longer the same
No longer imbued with tender glances
No longer habituated with long lost habit

It reeked of a sense of loss
Laced with nostalgia at the outer edges
Crowded with what ifs, and only ifs
Insulated from the excitement of wild spontaneity

As if it had a life of its own
Distinct from the two individuals
It was destined to connect
Or disconnect, depending on its fancy

Moving across different sets of couples
Causing intrigue, anxiety, apprehension
Conniving, plotting, crafty at the fringes
Planning its next move artfully, playfully

Subir Chakraborty
9th Feb 2023

When the youness in you seemingly disappears
And dreams of mingling with the Iness in me
Do you cease to exist
Or do I

Or do we coexist in parallel lanes
Trying hard to maintain our individuality
While welcoming this diffusion
Riding on the wave of transition

While we play the game of pretensions
Trying to delude ourselves
Creating an illusion of bonding, unification
Dismembering ourselves, detaching ourselves from our moorings

While keeping our respective identities hidden
In a state of forced hibernation
Waiting to be unleashed when least expected
On the canvas of confused emotions

For the island in us
Needs to be cocooned, protected, sheltered
For the ego to exist and to bloom
For the Iness and youness to flourish lifelong

Subir Chakraborty
30th Dec 2022

My aspirations go beyond the limits
Way above the ordinary
For what I truly aspire
Is limitless, without a boundary

What is the point of an aspiration
If constrained within a limitation
What is the point of that daring
If confined within a jurisdiction

The playfully gushing air
And the mountains with their soaring cliffs
Beckon me to dream ceaselessly
With the song of freedom on my lips

Without a challenging aspiration
I may still exist within a code
Living the life of an amoeba
On the bank of a deserted shore

But to experience life in all its facets
I must be willing to gain height
Like the Bald Eagle in the Grand Canyon
Awesome in its majestic flight

Subir Chakraborty / 28th April 2018

I carry my heaven with me
In my mind, in my heart, in my very own being
In happiness and in unbounded ecstasy
In agony and in the depths of misery

In the sweet music of the birds
In the melodious ululations of the leaves
In the warm embrace of the evening zephyr
In the quietude of the tiptoeing twilight

In the doom of deepening despair
In the loss of my sweetest memories
In letting go of all that I have ever cherished
In the death of each treasured instant

My heaven is ever moving, ever evolving
Where I am only a mere traveller
Enjoying each moment enriched by life
Enshrined and embellished with rare beauty and love

Subir Chakraborty
1st Nov 2022

Love makes everything seem so easy
So seamless, so full of life, so very pretty
The obstacles melt into the deep horizon
Leaving only the rainbow to paint the sky

Leaving only two hearts, two souls
To mingle
Intertwined in each other’s embrace
Interlaced with the warm breath of love

Leaving the mundane and the ordinary
To also take on radiant hues
Refreshed with the touch of togetherness
Re-embellished with the ardour of yearning

Where the world seems so welcoming
Where the breeze is redolent with rare passion
Where the moon peeps from behind the clouds
To usher in a life of melodious longing

Subir Chakraborty
1st Oct 2022

The voice of reason
Eludes me, escapes my grasp
Leaving only uncontrolled aggression
In my tightly fisted clasp

Where I act before I reason
Where emotions are in turmoil
Where rationality takes a back seat
And tempers are on the boil

What must I do then
Who shall I seek
When my mind is unable
And reasoning is weak

The path to destruction
May loom large ahead
But honour must be protected
If need be, unto death

What is this honour
Which is flying like a kite
Perhaps my untamed ego
Sheathed in disguise

Which I truly imagine
To be a part of my body
When an intruder it may be
Creating unrest and anarchy

Subir Chakraborty / 14th April 2018

The traveller in me
Seeks to unravel the unknown
Armed with the knowledge
Of what is so far known

Yet how do I know what I truly seek
When I am all at sea
Searching blindly with eyes open
Amidst all that I can see

Unknown faces, unknown places
Unknown my destination
Unknown my immediate itinerary, and
Unknown my ultimate situation

New experiences, unique lands
Expected and unexpected sights
Where the unknown and the known
Intermingle with rare delight

Where the I in me begins to evolve
To a different I, hitherto unknown
Creating a new I, each moment
Far from the one that is known

Subir Chakraborty / 18th May 2018

My memories belong to the long lost alleys of time
Which cling to my mind as cobwebs
Blurring my already fading vision
Refusing to depart peacefully

As I move haltingly forward in hesitant steps
Not really sure, never certain
Fervently longing for the past to retrace its steps
To revert to my eventful past, glorious and inglorious

The moments drop silently as rain
On the fabric of accelerating time
As I long for my belongings to keep pace
To paint my present with an evergreen brush

Alas! They keep on falling back
For they belong to another period, a different time zone
Rooted in stasis, overweighed with the burden of the past
Overwhelmed with the uncertainty of the future

Subir Chakraborty
3rd June 2022

Life just happened
Life always just happens
With scant respect for all my plans
Scattered with randomised turn of events

Sometimes it offers more than I expect
Filling my cauldron with ecstasy
Elevating my doddering self-esteem
From the realm of the ordinary to the phenomenal

The dizzying moments are intoxicating
Exuding an aroma of arrogance
A certain numbing of the mind
Perhaps a dulling of the wisdom

But at times, life draws me down to the depths
A hopeless, unstoppable cesspool of misery
Where I clutch on to mere half-straws
To keep my sanity and sensibility in balance

Where after a bout of self pitying, I realise
That the hurt is necessary for me to heal
For through those throbbing strands of pain
The truth reveals itself gradually, aiding the process of self discovery

Subir Chakraborty
13th April 2022

The sunrise speaks in gentle whispers
To the dew drops, which lie scattered on grass
Pregnant with the sweet dreams of yesteryears
Reluctant to stir from their trance-like state

The sunset speaks in mellowed tones
For the day in its realism and crudity has just passed by
Signalling both joy and frustration, sometimes in unequal measure
Differentiating between illusions and the struggle for existence

The moonlight speaks in hushed silence
Enchanting the earth with its silvery hues
Drenching young and old hearts with hope and love
And possibilities, and feelings and unspoken words

The Milky Way navigates the sky in all its majestic splendour
Illuminating our very being, our consciousness
Lighting up our souls with cosmic effulgence
Informing us about our universality and our oneness

Subir Chakraborty
2nd April 2022